Sunday, 13 May 2012

Agency update

I sent
those Guild letters out to the literary agencies last week, and so far I've
heard back from four of them. Like I said in the original post, agencies
generally expect the first three chapters, a synopsis and a covering letter
from the off, and don't generally require a preliminary letter or email, but
one agency from the extremely short list of fantasy-accepting agencies did.

A few
months ago I read through the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook and searched all
of their agencies. Very few of them said anything about fantasy, but I checked
all of the websites of everyone who mentioned nothing about it. I ended up
emailing about seven agencies who never stated they did or did not accept
fantasy novels - I've heard back from half, all of whom have declined - but the
few agencies who have expressed interest in fantasy didn't accept email. This
was where my letters came in.

So I wrote
them up, printed them out, sealed them and made them lurvely. I made sure to
state in the letter that it was a fantasy novel, and also included a brief
3-line plot outline, so once I sent them out the balls were well and truly in
the agencies' courts. The four I've heard back from have all asked me to send
out my first three chapters. One sent me a standard form letter, but,
surprisingly, the other three agencies actually took the time to hand write a
request - one of them was only a line written at the top of the letter I sent
them, but the other two put more effort in. I'm a little more hopeful with this
now. Each of these four agencies know I'm sending in fantasy, but are
interested anyway, so I'm hoping that now, finally, I'll be judged on my work rather
than my genre.

I'm
still waiting on an order from the wonderful Fawn and Flora - some giant
paperclips (and cute notepaper which has little to do with anything) to bundle
my manuscript together and post it out to them, since they don't want them bound
any other way, but since I don't have them yet and heard back from these
agencies much faster than I expected, I'm going to just send this first one out
as it is.

I've
also decided that, after printing merely the first three chapters and seeing it
reach 79 sheets of paper (required to be printed on one side, and double
spaced), I'm only printing it once. Generally, if you send a stamped addressed
envelope, an agency will return your manuscript to you. I hate to think what
this will cost to send, but in the face of a future career, no cost is too
great. Of course I only just managed to find an envelope big enough, I have
little idea of what to do if I'm lucky enough to be requested the full
manuscript - though that will be a
problem I'll enjoy having.

My plan
for this is to wrap the bubble wrap envelope (it was all I could find big
enough at my tiny post-office/chemist) in parcel paper, tie it with string and
use the wax seal again, to keep it visually consistant.

None of
this means anything, not really, what counts is the writing itself, of course.
And since it's a trilogy, as I've said time and time again, even if my
manuscript is good, the series factor will decrease the likelihood of a
contract. But I have plenty of ideas, so if this doesn't work, I'll try
something else. I'm submitting the first book of the trilogy, but I'm already
writing the second, and have plans for the third, and then on top of that I
have plans for a duology in the same world with a few thousand years between
them, and two other books in their own worlds and with new stories. If this
trilogy won't be my debut, something else will be. I want this too badly
and am working too hard for it to never happen.

The
response I got today, however, and fortunately, requested my work by email, so
yay, saving paper (and postage and ink). I've sent that to them this morning,
but I probably won't hear anything back for a month or so. As for the rest,
I'll be sure to update when they're sent out, and whenever, if ever, I
receive a positive response.

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